Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-10-05
STEALING HGt,o TERED LETTERS.
How the Dishonest POstofiice EmPlOyes
Are Sometimes Caught.

-AtC SeuSti"es &AuSut.
There is one place in the po>toffice ser,
vice where stealing can he carried on with
little fear of detection said one of the
division superintendents recently, land
that is in the registered letter department.
Tie opinion of almost every one is that
the safest way Ia send u letter or package
is to register it. But there is loophOIe
through which the mail can slip with
great ease. The weak part Of the system
is in the receiving department. Say that
registered package is received at the
postotiice from some place out of the city.
1t passes TO the clerks in the regular way
for distribution. If one of them is dis
honest he collars the package and. OF
course, does not send the notice to the
person Ia whom it was directed. Not re-
ceiving any notice the owner does not call
at the Office for the package, and the per
son sending il, having perfect confidence
in the delivery system, believes it to have
been safely delivered. No complaints are
made 10 the Office and there is no trouble
All the thief has TO do is TO satisfy the
department which has check upon him.
and this il done by forging the name Of
the owner of the package 10 receipt and
sending ii 10 the proper authorities
us il easy for clerk TO pick out let
ter containing money!
Yes. They will do it as certainly rs n
cat will scent fish head in an ash bar
rel. It's all done by the sense of touch.
A clerk must not he seen weighing up
letters. but must 90 through a pile with
all possible speed. As his fingers glide
quickly over the letters, if he has been
long at the business. he will know intui-
gs,-..f L.. .N,..
that makes an uneven fold within, as is
usually the case with money. 1t may not
be money. but if il feels like il: that is
enough, and the letter is dexterously
dropped on the floor or slipped into con
venient place. where it can be picked up
without exciting suspicion
How are the thieves usually detected
by means Of decoy letters. These let
'ers are fixed up in the inspectors Office
Marked money is put into them. A bag
that comes to the office is opened and the
decoys are put in before the bag is sent to
the distributing department. The bag
comes to the suspected clerk in the regu-
lar way. Search is made for the decoy
in tie place where il should lie if il had
been properly distributed. II not found
the clerk il searched. and il the right per
StH WIS Tue UeneN Will
found on him. II is hard to work decoy
on an expert thief. ! know of one man
who passed thirty-five decoys before he
was caught. In fact he let them slip by
SO regularly that he disarmed suspicion
and the decoys Were tried on every other
clerk. Complaints Were coming in all the
time and the case was puzzling.
None Of the clerks would touch de-
coy. FINALLY the first man suspected took
one and was arrested. He confessed, and
said that lie could tell decoy every time.
because it did not have tine marks of
travel on it. and the stamping was smooth
and sharp, showing that a stamp rarely
used had been applied to the letter and
not the one regularly used in the course Of
business
There is more or less stealing all the
time i'll the postoflice, but such close
watch is kept on the men that the amount
stolen is now comparatively small.
Thieves crop out in the most unexpected
places. and men in good positions are
sometimes caught sacrificing their good
name, home and future for petty sums Of
money New York Evening Sun.